"Thank you to everyone who has jumped into Update 17 of Hell Let Loose!
The team has loved seeing your reactions to the new map, Tobruk, and everything else the update brought to the battlefield.

Of course, with any major release, a few bugs have crept through but we've been hard at work squashing them. Today’s hotfix addresses several of the issues you flagged, and we're pleased to share that it's now live.

A huge thank you to everyone who reported bugs and shared feedback across Steam, Discord, Reddit, and social media. Your support helps us improve the game for everyone.

We hope you continue to enjoy Tobruk. See you on the front lines!"

– Team17 & Expression Games.

Below are some key fixes and improvements that are incoming with this latest hotfix patch.

We have noticed that a lot of people reported that Support Effectiveness XP is immediately granted to users who ping enemy locations, allowing them to confirm locations via the scoreboard. To combat this, we are doing the following:

• Rewarding player XP and scores for accurate marks or pings on the tac-map has been disabled.
  
• XP and scores for accurate markers or pings are only rewarded to the player upon: the players death, the player leaving the server or the match ending.

• [A6] Players could see beneath the map and fall through in sector A6 of Tobruk.
  
• Damage indicator remained permanently on screen after redeploying.

• Missing keybinds for Admin Camera in the keybindings menu.
  
• The R key still has no functionality when unlocked from a target, but that button prompt has been removed. When locked to a target it still has the original functionality of Toggling locked rotation

[I6] Unnecessary fence removed.
[J5] Certain area looked too symmetrical.
[D8] Road spline texture visibly splitting.
[A8] Disconnected power cable pole.
[I7] Unnatural ridge without landscape painting.
[I7] Fallen electrical pole clipping with environment.
[I3] Floating assets covered by terrain layer.
[I3] Crates partially blocking tent entrance.
[J3] Poor fence blending at top British HQ.
[F8] Broken blue door fallen out of a green door frame.
[F8] Terrain covering a house foundation.
[D8] Missing pavement poly face at the sea wall.
[B4] See-through cliff terrain in sector B4.
[C7] Misaligned terrain inside a mud pile.
[I5] Rocks missing player collision.
[B4] Guard Room strongpoint missing on the tactical map.
Intense shadows on windows and doors in multiple locations.
[H3) Misaligned terrain in sector H3.
[D5] Misaligned house with the ground in sector D5.
[F8] Clipping through walls in Admiralty House.
[E6] [E7] Boxes missing player collision.

• Field Manual – Tobruk entry partially obscured in the Locations tab.
  
• DAK Panzerdivision & Afrikakorps Tropenfeldbluse – Stretched arm textures.
  
• Purple Heart Lane Map – Rare lightning strikes.

You may also notice an improvement to the interiors across Tobruk as well, courtesy of our art department

Unfortunately, not all identified issues were able to be added into this hotfix. That being said, we wanted to make you aware of the following bugs that are currently being addressed which will release in a future hotfix update.

• Loading into queue UI disappearance - Thank you to all the players who have noted this issue. Although frustrating we wanted to assure this bug does not impact your spot in the queue and only visually removes the UI showing you exactly what spot you were in.
  
• The Leichte Afrika Division Uniform on Support, the backpack is clipping with the fuel tank.

We appreciate your continued support and patience as we work through these fixes!

Hello Everyone,

Update 17 has deployed on all platforms!

This update brings the release of the brand new Tobruk map, Dynamic Sandstorms and some Quality of Life Improvements!


The Second Siege of Tobruk was a short lived battle set in Tobruk - Libya that saw the capitulation of the British defences, within a single day. Set on 20th June of 1942, the Second Siege of Tobruk featured the successful campaign of the Deutsche Afrika Korps against the British 8th Army, as the harsh summer sandstorms rolled in. Aside from the close-quarters combat of the city proper, the map also features various caves, aptly named the “Desert Rat Caves” after the defenders of Tobruk, who were often referred to as the “Rats of Tobruk”.

Tobruk comes with the following game modes:

• Warfare
  
• Offensive British
  
• Offensive German
  
• Control Skirmish

When planning what kind of thematic map we wanted to create, we referred to the existing maps that are currently available to players to help us decide. As a team, we decided that this map could be:

• A desert map that is different to El Alamein yet feels cohesive in nature
  
• An opportunity to provide players with new fighting experiences including: caves, creeks, accessible rooftops and the overall blend of urban and rural areas
  
• A map that incorporates dense urban areas but does not restrict vehicles/armour
  
• A map that has diverse Capture Point themes that contrast each other yet remain thematically cohesive overall

The desert nature of Tobruk has given us the freedom to experiment with the natural topography, allowing us to create interesting natural areas unique to this map. We had concerns about the open flat plains that the desert provides, however, we addressed this issue by utilising natural rock formations and sand dunes which provided cover but retained the authenticity of a believable desert landscape.


Tobruk - High Resolution Tactical Map

🖱️Full info on Tobruk's Capture Points.

• Improvements made to the XP System
  
• Improvements made to the dynamic weather system
  
• Improvements made to the Flamethrower

Tobruk - The following time of day scenarios have been added:

• Morning
  
• Day
  
• Dusk

The following game modes have been added for Tobruk:

• Warfare
  
• Offensive British
  
• Offensive German
  
• Skirmish

Updated Tobruk themed main menu


Updated Tobruk themed loadout screen


Updated Soviet Practice Range:

• New distant landscape added
  
• Reworked materials
  
• Added new roads and snow details

Updated lighting for the Soviet Practice Range:

• A new skybox was added to create a more dramatic morning setting
  
• Tuned fog settings to ensure they worked well with the lighting conditions
  
• Updated HDRI, again tuned so that the specular values are less harsh
  
• Tuned direct lighting settings to be slightly more pink and less intense
  
• Tuned post-processing to add a subtle blue filter

The technical art team has collaborated closely with the programming team to improve the weather system originally developed for Elsenborn Ridge and Purple Heart Lane. This updated system introduces greater flexibility and adds an extra layer of randomness to the weather patterns. In the previous version, the weather would cycle through various intensities at predictable intervals (e.g. every 2 to 5 minutes), always ending in an extreme setting before cycling back down. The new system alters this behaviour, making it less predictable when an extreme weather event will occur. As with the original system the transitions have a time range and cool down time range, however, from here we can breakdown each of the scenarios to give them separate weighting. We can control how long it will stay at medium compared to heavy or extreme, we can control the maximum amount of occurrences for each scenario. This also means that when it reaches a heavy scenario it can sometimes move back to mild or medium rather than always going to extreme.

As part of our plan to expand the dynamic weather system, we are now able to introduce sandstorms to Tobruk. The sandstorm features four distinct modes, beginning with a light flurry of dust and sand particles and escalating to a full-blown sandstorm. The extreme setting reduces visibility, creating intense dust clouds and particles around the player. These moments offer players an additional layer of dynamic cover, and with the updated system, the occurrence and duration of these events are now less predictable.

Due to the nature of the sand dust and cloud particles the technical art team needed to update how the occlusion system worked. Traditionally the system was handled this way:

• Capture a world aligned top down heightmap
  
• Particles then sample the heightmap using their world position
  
• If the particle’s own height is lower than the sampled heightmap, that particle is occluded/hidden

With the updated method we do a small ray-march for each pixel in the direction of its motion. We do this to check the distance that it will get occluded in the future and we use that distance to start reducing the opacity before it reaches the occlusion boundary.



Environment Art - Expression Games

The following buffs have been made to the flamethrower to allow it to destroy more buildable structures:

Previous Behaviour - Previously could destroy:

• Garrison
  
• Outpost
  
• Forward Position

New Behaviour - Now is able to destroy:

• Fuel Node
  
• Manpower Node
  
• Munitions Node
  
• Repair Station
  
• Supply Drop
  
• Ammo Drop
  
• Ammo Box
  
• Supply Box
  
• Explosive Ammo Box
  
• Medic Box

[/i]

Garrison

Outpost

Forward Position

[/list]Based on feedback from the community after the PTE, the following changes have also been made:

• Flamethrower effective range increased from 23m to 35m
  
• Flamethrowers now suppress enemies

Player built structures now have varying durability levels. These are categorized as Light, Medium and Heavy. Upgrading structures will increase their durability. This will allow us to explore how various weapons interact with different structures.

• Bunker (Tier 1) - Light
  
• Bunker (Tier 2) - Medium
  
• Bunker (Tier 3) - Heavy
  
• Barricade (Tier 1) - Light
  
• Barricade (Tier 2) - Medium
  
• Barricade (Tier 3) - Medium
  
• Hedgehog - Medium
  
• Belgium Gate - Medium
  
• Barbed Wire - Medium

The first change we have made, along with the new structure durability, is that precision strikes can now destroy Light and Medium structures, giving commanders a tool to break through tough enemy defences.

Previous behaviour - Previously could destroy:

• AT Gun
  
• AT Mines
  
• AP Mines
  
• Ammo boxes
  
• Supply Boxes
  
• Medic Boxes
  
• Garrison
  
• Outpost
  
• Forward Position
  
• Fuel Node
  
• Manpower Node
  
• Munitions Node
  
• Repair Station
  
• Supplies

New behaviour - Now is able to destroy:

• Bunker
  
• Bunker Upgrade 1
  
• Barricade
  
• Barricade Upgrade 1
  
• Barricade Upgrade 2
  
• Hedgehog (US & BRITS)
  
• Belgium Gate (GER & DAK)
  
• Barbed Wire

[/i]

AT Gun

AT Mines

AP Mines

Ammo boxes

Supply Boxes

Medic Boxes

Garrison

Outpost

Forward Position

Fuel Node

Manpower Node

Munitions Node

Repair Station

Supplies

[/list]
As a first step to promote some positive play, we’ve added more ways for the player to gain XP whilst playing the game as it is intended to be played. These include the following:

• XP for accurate infantry marks/pings
  
• XP for accurate vehicle marks/ping
  
• XP for accurate OP/Garrison Markers
  
• XP for suppressing enemies
  
• XP for kill assists

• Recon Outposts layer on top of all other outposts
  
• Player icons may block the ability to click on outposts
  
• The active Outpost icon fails to layer on top of other outposts
  
• Microphone Check Settings Reset After Closing Game
  
• HQ spawn timers freeze while the "Unit Join Request" pop-up is on the screen.
  
• All British helmets sit too high on the character’s head
  
• Aim down sights triggers read/write of the input.ini file multiple times per ADS
  
• A crash will occur after performing a network disconnection and then reconnecting and progressing past the IIS

(I8) Additional stone wall on the road
(G4) Deploying on an outpost placed next to the house causes the player to become stuck in the building
(H8) Players can use an Airhead to spawn into an inaccessible area
(E2) The player can become stuck inside the building after deploying
(D6) Players can spawn in a locked building
(F1) Misplaced artillery prevents the player from exiting the seat
(F1) Floating artillery
(F4) Two buildings are overlapping
(H3) The player gets stuck between a sandbag wall and a pile of barrels
(D10) The snow is not blending correctly with the road and ground
(C2) There are wooden boxes and pallets without snow in the open
(HF) (H3) Missing polygon face at the end of a trench network
(H8) Small seam that the user can see out of the game world
(H4) Big snow pile with furniture appears low resolution
(G6) Misaligned snow terrain
(C5) A little bit of snow texture is poking through the roof asset on the interior side.
(C3) The Back face of a rockface that is alongside a road is missing


Deutsches Afrikakorps: At the helm of the Afrikakorps, command directed sweeping offensives across North Africa. With Tobruk in their sights in June 1942, they launched a coordinated assault to seize the key port and strengthen Axis control.

21. Panzerdivision: As one of the Afrikakorps’ primary armored divisions, the 21st Panzer Division advanced toward Tobruk in June 1942. With tanks at the forefront, they aimed to smash through British defenses and secure the key stronghold.

90. Leichte Afrika Division: The 90th Light Afrika Division operated across North Africa, specializing in fast, flexible warfare. In June 1942, they advanced on Tobruk, tasked with breaking through its defenses and seizing the vital port for the Axis.

Eighth Army:Eighth Army Command oversaw pivotal battles throughout the North African Campaign. After the defeat at Gazala, miscommunication led to the Tobruk garrison failing to evacuate in time. This resulted in the formation of an ad hoc defensive force tasked with preventing Axis forces from capturing the port.

Cameron Highlanders: The Cameron Highlanders saw action across North Africa, enduring the hardships of desert warfare. In June 1942, they braced for the Axis assault on Tobruk, ready to defend the strategic port against the advancing forces.

1st Armoured Division: The 1st Armoured Division took part in some of the largest armored battles in the Western Desert Campaign. After defeat at Gazala they retreated East, with elements breaking off during the disarray to resupply at Tobruk.

LRDG:The eyes of the British Eighth Army in North Africa, the Long Range Desert Group tracked Axis movements deep behind enemy lines. This unit supplied vital intelligence to Allied forces, helping to turn the tide of the Western Desert Campaign.

We hope you enjoyed what we brought to the game last year, and we’re excited to share what’s coming next. As Hell Let Loose continues to evolve and grow, our next four major updates bring the following content:

🗺️ Two brand-new maps, in two very different locales.
🔧 A map refresh of Stalingrad, refining the player experience and addressing long-standing performance issues.
⛽ Powerful new vehicles to shift the tide of battle.
🔫 DLC content bringing new thematic cosmetics to further personalise your loadout.
🎉 And much more!

🗒️ Please note that this roadmap highlights just some of the key additions coming to the game. Each update will also include a variety of new content, quality-of-life improvements, and bug fixes. As we progress we’ll be diving deeper into each update to share more details with you all.

📽️ This starts on Friday 21st March 2025, where we will be hosting a live Q&A with the game devs. Keep an eye on our socials this week for more details.
❓ If you would like the devs to answer your questions, be sure to submit them in the Hell Let Loose Discord server or on our Hell Let Loose Reddit.
Question submissions will close on Thursday 20th March.



We are super excited for another year of Hell Let Loose and cannot wait to experience these updates with you. Thank you for your continued support— see you on the frontlines!

Hello All,

Welcome to the PTE for Tobruk! We’ve got a lot of exciting things for you to play around with.

• Warfare - Morning
  
• OffensiveBRIT - Morning
  
• Warfare - Day
  
• OffensiveGER - Day

The Second Siege of Tobruk was a short lived battle set in Tobruk - Libya that saw the capitulation of the British defences, within a single day. Set on 20th June of 1942, the Second Siege of Tobruk featured the successful campaign of the Deutsche Afrika Korps against the British 8th Army, as the harsh summer sandstorms rolled in. Aside from the close-quarters combat of the city proper, the map also features various caves, aptly named the “Desert Rat Caves” after the defenders of Tobruk, who were often referred to as the “Rats of Tobruk”.

When planning what kind of thematic map we wanted to create, we referred to the existing maps that are currently available to players to help us decide. As a team, we decided that this map could be:

• A desert map that is different to El Alamein yet feels cohesive in nature
  
• An opportunity to provide players with new fighting experiences including: caves, creeks, accessible rooftops and the overall blend of urban and rural areas
  
• A map that incorporates dense urban areas but does not restrict vehicles/armour
  
• A map that has diverse Capture Point themes that contrast each other yet remain thematically cohesive overall

The desert nature of Tobruk has given us the freedom to experiment with the natural topography, allowing us to create interesting natural areas unique to this map. We had concerns about the open flat plains that the desert provides, however, we addressed this issue by utilising natural rock formations and sand dunes which provided cover but retained the authenticity of a believable desert landscape.


Tobruk Hi-Res Tac Map


Starting with the North West of the map, we have the Guard Room Capture Point. This German Capture Point features a bespoke building that was repurposed into a storage space for the upcoming assault, rocky terrain, reinforced buildings and a variety of verticality. As with all Capture Points here, vehicle access is not limited and is aided with the addition of a long open main road and branching dirt pathways.


Tobruk Guard Room

This desolate wasteland known as the Tank Graveyard Capture Point, is the result of a previous German armoured assault attempt on Tobruk which ended in defeat. Now all that remains are the artillery craters and tanks from both factions that lay in ruin. From dead tanks and large craters, to clouds of smoke and exposed rock formations, players have a variety of cover options to aid their advance. Though the result of the terrain proves vehicle navigation to be trickier, the winding paths and deeper terrain provide cover for vehicles for strategic attacks.


Tobruk Tank Graveyard

At the South West of the map we have the German makeshift base, the Division Headquarters Capture Point. This Capture Point was a staging ground for the German Forces’ assault on the city. With large rock formations, enterable tents and trench networks, players of all role types are offered a variety of cover.


Tobruk Division Headquarters

The next Capture Point revolves around a terrain feature new to Hell Let Loose, desert creeks. With a blend of rocky terrain, sparse foliage and various depths of the creek’s bed, the addition of this themed topology creates unique and interesting gameplay that provides players with the opportunity to utilise different tactics. Though the creek spans roughly 4 sectors in length, the West Creek Capture Point focuses on the widest part of the creek and its surrounding compound and focuses heavily on the more natural elements of the map.


Tobruk West Creek

Towards the centre of the map we have a Capture Point that contributes to the dense urban area, Albergo Ristorante Moderno. Whether you’re using the accessible rooftops to utilise the high ground, or using the planks connecting them as a pathway to reach further into the city, the rooftops in the Albergo Ristorante Moderno Capture Point provides players with a fighting experience new to Hell Let Loose.


Tobruk Albergo Ristorante Moderno

Making up the other half of the dense urban area, the King Square Capture Point mostly comprises second-story buildings and encourages close-quarters battle in the lower courtyard areas. This is a direct contrast to its counterpart Albergo Ristorante Moderno which mainly features single-storey buildings to aid rooftop fighting. We have not limited vehicle access in these urban areas, but instead, have provided many roads and alleys to account for all playstyles. So whether you’re infantry on foot or armour in tanks, this area caters for all play styles.


Tobruk King Square

Another Capture Point that provides players with a new gameplay experience is the Desert Rat Caves. As the name suggests, this area will allow players to participate in close-quarter battles within a small cave system. This area is full of verticality and does not limit vehicle access in most areas. Players will be able to walk and climb into the caves, offering flanking abilities and other strategies to tactically advance.


Tobruk Desert Rat Caves

In the heart of Tobruk, we have the Church Grounds Capture Point, which focuses on the area surrounding the church. We decided to not have the church itself in the hard cap to help mitigate against spawn camping, however, the church is fully accessible, including the spire to retain that Hell Let Loose gameplay that appears in other maps.


Tobruk Church Grounds

Near Tobruk’s harbour, we have the Admiralty House, a large structure that saw a collapse of its western wing after a devastating airstrike. Though the building itself is non-enterable, players will be able to scale the building’s rubble or utilise the facades and walkways in order to take the risk of its exposed rooftop vantage point.


Tobruk Admiralty House

One of the key attributes of the Abandoned Ammo Cache Capture Point, include the mixture of open desert road for flanking opportunities, and a warehouse that features towering ammo crates both inside and outside to provide strategic cover.


Tobruk Abandoned Ammo Cache

The 8th Army Medical Hospital Capture Point has many enterable buildings for close quarters battle and rooftop access for long range attacks and interesting crossfire opportunities. There are open courtyards to aid tactical advancements, and many flanking opportunities for vehicles.


Tobruk 8th Army Medical Hospital

This Capture Point provides a lot of verticality with 4 large two storey apartment buildings. Though the apartments are non-enterable, the apartment's walkways are accessible, with stairs to the second storey too. The Supply Sump Capture Point provides a variety of sightlines in all directions and an open courtyard space that allows vehicle access and large towering cover to either attack or help defend the apartment buildings.


Tobruk Supply Dump

The next Capture Point is the Road to Senussi Mine. This area features a long open desert road and plenty of verticality from the watch tower, large sand mounds, sand dunes, rock formations and tunnels. The Capture Point tells the story of the British Army who would load supplies onto mine carts, and transport them through the tricky desert landscape with relative ease and speed.


Tobruk Road to Senussi Mine

The Makeshift Aid Station Capture Point provides a variety of tactical advantages with the tents and the wide open approach for vehicular assaults. The road networks and dirt track paths also offer the players flanking opportunities.


Tobruk Makeshift Aid Station

The Cargo Warehouses Capture Point features large enterable warehouses that allow for close quarters combat and also vehicle access. There are also off-road opportunities and a variety of areas that provide flanking opportunities.


Tobruk Cargo Warehouses


The technical art team has collaborated closely with the programming team to improve the weather system originally developed for Elsenborn Ridge and Purple Heart Lane. This updated system introduces greater flexibility and adds an extra layer of randomness to the weather patterns. In the previous version, the weather would cycle through various intensities at predictable intervals (e.g., every 2 to 5 minutes), always ending in an extreme setting before cycling back down. The new system alters this behavior, making it less predictable when an extreme weather event will occur.

As part of our plan to expand the dynamic weather system, we are now able to introduce sandstorms to Tobruk. The sandstorm features four distinct modes, beginning with a light flurry of dust and sand particles and escalating to a full-blown sandstorm. The extreme setting reduces visibility, creating intense dust clouds and particles around the player. These moments offer players an additional layer of dynamic cover, and with the updated system, the occurrence and duration of these events are now less predictable.


Heavy Sand Storm GIF

Flamethrowers now deal more damage to trucks. Additionally they can now destroy the following items, giving the flamethrower more utility on the battlefield:

• Resource nodes
  
• Supply and ammo crates
  
• Supply and ammo drops
  
• Forward positions

U17 Flamethrower Buff

Player built structures now have varying durability levels. These are categorized as Light, Medium and Heavy. Upgrading structures will increase their durability. This will allow us to explore how various weapons interact with different structures.

• Bunker (Tier 1) --> Light
  
• Bunker (Tier 2) --> Medium
  
• Bunker (Tier 3) --> Heavy
  
• Barricade (Tier 1) --> Light
  
• Barricade (Tier 2) --> Medium
  
• Barricade (Tier 3) --> Medium
  
• Hedgehog --> Medium
  
• Belgium Gate --> Medium
  
• Barbed Wire --> Medium

The first change we have made along with the new structure durability is precision strikes can now destroy Light and Medium structures, giving commanders a tool to break through tough enemy defences.


These PTE sessions are a way for you as a community to feedback on Hell Let Loose work in progress, which means we can look to implement your feedback before a patch or update is released. Although we can currently only hold public testing sessions on Steam, we encourage everyone to take part to be able to share feedback.

You may encounter some placeholder assets / areas that do not look completely finalised, this is still work in progress but should give you a good idea of how the final map will look / feel

• Airhead can be placed inside a couple of the buildings around the map
  
• Dust storm flickers upon the players spawning after a mass redeploy
  
• Strafing runs are limited where they can be placed on the map in certain orientations
  
• A specific building asset is placeholder in sector E7
  
• Sandbag floating in the sky in sector F6
  
• Seam in the ground seen in Sector H8

You are welcome to both stream and record PTE footage, but as these sessions are showing unfinished work, it’s always good to let your individual communities know that the footage is from a PTE session, where you might encounter unfinished items, bugs and other issues.

Once you have completed a game and are ready to provide feedback, please use the forms below!

Check your Steam Library for the Hell Let Loose (Public Testing) application, or re-download it from the Steam store, you’ll want to boot this version up to take part in the PTE!

Once you’re in and have selected a server, you’ll be able to test out the new game map!

• Submit Feedback:

[/b] https://forms.office.com/e/2ts89DtxS9

Share Bug Reports:

[/b] https://forms.office.com/e/Phkn3bjvX9
[/list]
Because PTEs are run on development servers that have logging activated, you will experience a slight decrease in performance. You will also not earn any XP and your progress will not be carried over to the live game.

Hello everyone,

We hope you've had a great start to the year! We've just pushed a new build live for U16 comprising the following fixes:

• [VOIP] Disconnecting and Reconnecting the headset will cause the Voice Channels to lose the functionality
  
• [EGS] The Invite Menus from the pause menu are incorrectly placed
  
• [EGS] The game has the EAC icon as the Desktop Icon

We're still finalising the 2025 roadmap, with news to follow as soon as it's ready to share!

Thank you.

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your continued support throughout 2024! We really appreciate the content and feedback you share with us daily.

Now that Update 16 has been released, we have delivered all content stipulated on the 2024 roadmap! It’s been an enjoyable year for us working on Hell Let Loose.

We began by wrapping up the British Rework, refreshing El Alamein and improving Update 14’s overall content. Console players received the long-awaited server browser, which allows players to select which maps/modes they want to play and, of course, relieves us of the challenge of selecting a map rotation that appeals to everyone.

We built two maps from the ground up, beginning with Mortain. From there, we took key lessons and applied them to Elsenborn Ridge, which also featured our new dynamic weather system first introduced in the Purple Heart Lane refresh. The positive feedback for Elsenborn Ridge has been wonderful to read, we thank you for sharing your thoughts, as always, helping us to further refine and improve Hell Let Loose.


In early 2025, we leave the intense snow and freezing conditions of Elsenborn Ridge and land at the frontlines of the Axis capture of Tobruk, also known as the Fall of Tobruk and the Second Battle of Tobruk. Tobruk was a deep-water port and therefore a key strategic objective of the North Africa campaign, it was involved in one of the longest sieges of British history. Our new map, is set within the successful Axis offensive and assault on Tobruk at the end of Operation Venezia and will feature the game’s British Eighth Army and DAK forces.


Looking Towards The Church Grounds

View Over The East Approach

Tobruk From The West Creek


Internal 2025 roadmap discussions started in the summer and are ongoing. We’ll share the final plan with you as soon as possible next year. We’ve crafted the 2025 roadmap with your feedback in mind and looking at what we can realistically achieve over the next 12 months. We’re acutely aware of the gameplay improvements you’re asking for and our goal is to implement as many of them as we possibly can.

2025 is going to be a very exciting year for Hell Let Loose! We’re looking forward to being able to share more detail with you in the New Year. Thank you again for your continued support and see you on the frontlines.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/686810/Hell_Let_Loose/

Hello everyone,

We hope you're enjoying the winter warfare and challenging visibility in Elsenborn Ridge! Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback so far, we've loved reading the reception and can't wait to share our plans for 2025. Stay tuned for news on the upcoming roadmap.



If you'd like to join us on our mission from the Labor of Love award, you can vote here!

Thank you! Exciting years ahead for Hell Let Loose.

Hello Everyone,

Update 16 has deployed on all platforms!

This update brings the release of the brand new Elsenborn Ridge map, the anticipated Freelook Mechanic, a Dynamic Weather system, along with multiple QOL and bug fixes.



Elsenborn Ridge was a less-documented but integral battle nevertheless in the Ardennes ‘44 campaign of WW2. Set in the Belgian region of Büllingen, just 40 miles away from Foy, the U.S. valiantly tried to hold their position in the small village of Wirtzfeld. With territory having exchanged hands multiple times between the U.S. and German Forces, the U.S. was eventually driven out of Wirtzfeld, and onto the Elsenborn Ridge, where they dug in throughout the brutal December period of 1944, having been forced to abandon crucial ammo and fuel stores near the village.

The map joins the battle between 16-26th December 1944 with the U.S. Forces having established their defensive networks on the Elsenborn Ridge, while the German Forces controlled the village outskirts of Wirtzfeld to the South. The map comes with the following game modes:

• Warfare
  
• Offensive U.S.
  
• Offensive German
  
• Control Skirmish

Update 16 introduces Elsenborn Ridge, a new map set during the Battle of the Bulge - 71 kilometres north of Foy in the Büllingen region of Belgium set during that bitter winter in the closing months of the war.

As our most significant content release since Mortain, we’ve focused on delivering a map that balances performance and visual quality. As with preceding Black Matter maps, we have crafted a biome that reflects the terrain, settlements and the biting cold endured by the troops in this region.

The result is a map which offers an engaging gameplay experience and is visually distinct. We are extremely grateful to the members of our community who took part in our PTEs and have helped drive that vision forward.

Environment Art - Expression Games.

Six new achievements have been added for Elsenborn Ridge.

• Blaze of Glory - Whilst injured, kill an enemy with a Flamethrower on Elsenborn Ridge
  
• Hit the Road Jack - Drive or ride in vehicles for 1 hour on Elsenborn Ridge
  
• Ultimate Price - Destroy an enemy garrison with a satchel on Elsenborn Ridge
  
• Rations for the Ridge - As the Support role, drop 25 Supply Boxes on Elsenborn Ridge
  
• Snow Angel - Revive 50 players on Elsenborn Ridge
  
• See No Evil - Get killed whilst using Freelook on Elsenborn Ridge.

Elsenborn Ridge Night


Elsenborn Ridge Day


Elsenborn Ridge Morning


Elsenborn Ridge Morning


Elsenborn Ridge Tacmap





Freelook has been a highly requested feature in the community, and as frequent players ourselves, it has been a goal of the development team to bring it into the game. Running through fields always has been a risky endeavour with threats always looming. Freelook allows for a 130 degrees horizontal view angle that allows players to scan their peripheries while running, holding a position or even mounted on your MG. This helps to give players more control over their situational awareness which allows for more calculated actions.

Due to some limitations with our character system, such as first person characters not having full bodies, there are some known issues which occur. This includes some visual clipping with certain weapons and uniforms. We are exploring solutions for these issues and will fix them in future updates.

Freelook is mapped to the Alt key on PC and right bumper (hold) on console layout A.




We’ve made waiting in server queues a better experience! Previously, players were stuck on a locked screen with no access to other features while waiting to join a server. Now, you can freely navigate the entire menu while in the queue; customise your appearance, choose your loadout, or explore other options to get game-ready. Queue details are conveniently displayed in a small overlay in the top right corner of the screen, keeping you informed while you wait. We hope that this change puts the downtime to good use, so you’re always in control.




We’re excited to share an update to enhance our community's onboarding experience! We’ve streamlined the UI by removing Basic Training, an overly complex menu with unnecessary loading screens. The two key features from that menu, the Practice Range and Field Manual, are now directly accessible from the main menu. This change simplifies navigation and ensures new players can quickly dive into essential tools that help them learn the game and sharpen their skills. We hope this improvement makes your journey into the game even smoother!




We’ve made some key improvements to the deployment screen to better equip players with critical information while waiting to spawn. One major update is the addition of the game progress bar which allows players to see which capture points are being contested in real time. This gives players the tools to make informed decisions about spawn locations and capitalise on pivotal moments during the match. Also, we’ve refined the spawn list to include more detailed information including; spawn types, their quantities, and individual cooldown timers. These changes aim to support Commanders and Officers in deploying critical spawn points when numbers are running low, while also reducing the friction of checking individual spawn timers for everyone waiting to dive back into the action.

The technical art team have been investigating the introduction of a dynamic weather system to Hell Let Loose, in particular a way to convey the weather that affected troops in Elsenborn Ridge. Troops were subjected to freezing conditions and blizzards affecting visibility.

We needed a system that could change throughout and be as unpredictable as the weather at that time to reflect this.

A set of VFX particles were created consisting of various intensities of snow. As we needed this to be configurable, we decided on a set of presets utilising data assets. This made it easier to drive the intensity of each level of snow.

This meant we could tune each scenario easily in isolation. Each scenario includes parameters referenced from the VFX and lighting to allow us balance intensity and atmospherics.

The VFX scenario was broken down into a set of presets:

• Light snow
  
• Medium snow
  
• Heavy snow
  
• Blizzard snow

The data assets were then accessed by a singular blueprint placed in the map which would blend each preset over time (all of which could be tuned in terms of frequency, probability and transition length). We added the probability of when the transition between each stage would occur in order to add some randomness to it.

The snow VFX behaviour has been improved since the PTE and we have made some changes to each stage to make the snow intensity transition more noticeable. Light and medium snow presets have fewer particles and a lighter feel, while heavy and blizzard presets have a significant increase in intensity. The transitions are now longer and feel more natural with the flow between each stage ramping up and down and not as immediate.

This introduced some challenges for how we would implement this for the online player experience of Hell Let Loose. Changeable weather conditions would need to be consistent over time for each player. The code team worked hard to ensure the levels of snow remained synchronised and consistent throughout.

In addition, the team went through the map to do a series of optimisations including:

• Terrain layer density, reducing the amount of terrain materials used in any one sector to reduce the strain on memory and GPU
  
• Particle quality settings, adding performance scalability for particle spawning
  
• Reducing the material complexity of various meshes
  
• Optimising the number of meshes found in each sector through merging assets and using the Hierarchical LOD system as a proxy for assets further in the distance to reduce the strain on both draw and GPU
  
• Optimising shadow depths throughout the map

Technical Art - Expression Games

This is a very exciting update for the engineering team. Along with freelook, UI improvements and the weather system, we also took the opportunity to overhaul the VoIP system in Hell Let Loose. The game requires heavy communication, and we understand that reliable VoIP is paramount to successful gameplay for Commanders and Officers.

We have introduced fixes for longstanding VoIP connection issues. As a player, this will result in a much smoother and more reliable VoIP experience. To achieve this, we reimplemented the VoIP management system from scratch with an updated version of the Vivox SDK. This was a large piece of work, but we knew that it was the only way to ensure a polished VoIP experience for the community.

Engineering Team - Team17/Expression Games

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3312110/Hell_Let_Loose__Wacht_am_Rhein_Units/

• Freelook mechanic added
  
• “Blizzard Dynamic Weather”
  
• Server Queue
  
• Ability to navigate menus whilst queueing to join a server
  
• VIVOX Upgrade / Reimplementation

Elsenborn Ridge

• Warfare
  
• Day
  
• Morning
  
• Night

Offensive

• Day (Offensive German/Offensive U.S.)
  
• Morning (Offensive German/Offensive U.S.)
  
• Night (Offensive German/Offensive U.S.)

Skirmish

• Day
  
• Morning
  
• Night

• New Elsenborn Ridge ISS screen
  
• New Elsenborn Ridge themed front end menu
  
• Freelook sensitivity added to the control menu
  
• The controller layout graphic was modified to reflect the new layout on a controller (Freelook)
  
• Removed the separate “Training Room” and added Practice Range and Field Manual to the front end for ease of use
  
• Elsenborn Ridge added to the Server Browser Filter

More authentic winter uniforms were added to the U.S., Germany & Soviet Union, including:

German

• Reversible Padded Parka
  
• Winter Covered M42

Soviet Union

• Padded Telogreika
  
• Winter Covered SSh-36

United States

• Wool Overcoat
  
• Snow Jeep Cap

• Map progress bar added to the deploy screen
  
• Timers added to deploy points
  
• Deploy points are split into categories on the deploy screen

• [Corps] U.S. Hair becomes way brighter in the sun
  
• There is no option to filter between the offensive team for the offensive game mode
  
• Certain maps do not have certain time of day/weather conditions, but the server filter does not inform the user of that
  
• Panzer Lehr DLC text is not localized for all non-English languages
  
• The Photosensitive seizure warning is missing localisation during boot flow
  
• Winter heads show clipping when Panzer Lehr Uniform is equipped
  
• 10 minutes after booting the title the servers will no longer appear in the enlist screen and a reboot is needed for them to appear again
  
• Temporary poor network conditions will cause VoIP to stop working until the game is relaunched
  
• The garrison count on the Officer's/Commander's watch is not a global team tally, only local
  
• The title soft-locks when the "Confirm redeployment" prompt is active if a player requests to join a locked unit

• [Factory Asset] Players can climb through a wall

• Cement block presents clipping with terrain in C10

• [A3] A trench has missing collisions

• [C10] Corrupted house asset can be found in sector C10
  
• [F7] House asset present inverted texture on wooden planks
  
• [G1] The Player can become stuck between a fence and house
  
• H2 Gate asset present on a closed fence
  
• A specific house asset presents tessellation issues at the foundation
  
• [C10] Supply truck can get stuck under a gateway
  
• [C7] Player cannot pass through wooden door without crouching
  
• [E4] The roof of a destroyed building found in sector E4 is missing texture parts
  
• [F1] Misaligned road, rocks and grass in sector F1
  
• [G4] The user can flip a tank on the bridge by driving into the cart located on it
  
• H8 A road texture is misaligned with the environment[H6] Destroyed house lacks bullet collision, allowing player to shoot through building and kill other players

• H6 Destroyed house lacks bullet collision, allowing player to shoot through building and kill other players

• [C4] The player doesn't have collision with the grass hill
  
• [E2] Incomplete stone asset
  
• [E3] A tree asset is misplaced inside a stone fence
  
• [E4] Invisible collision near bridge
  
• [F4] Missing collision on a wall inside a house
  
• [F4] Missing player collision on hedges
  
• [F4] Rain is falling through the roof
  
• [F9] The terrain is slightly misaligned with a large bush on a small hill
  
• [G2] Stone wall presents no player collision
  
• Invisible collisions in between hedges.
  
• Telegraph lines are connected out of sequence across the whole map
  
• H9 Trench wall presents missing texture and collision

• [RUS] Floating bottle in attic next to shooting range
  
• [RUS] Tree clipping through house
  
• [RUS] Wooden posts clipping through a wall
  
• If the player highlights the pause menu in the practice range, the subtitle above the Back button says Enlist

• [D7] User can get stuck inside a broken brick tower

Helly everyone,

The Public Testing Environment for Update 16 is live, running throughout the weekend! We'd love to hear your feedback. So please jump in and play Elsenborn Ridge ahead of its release later this year.

• Warfare - Daytime/Blizzard and running throughout the weekend! We'd love to hear your feedback, so please jump in and play Elsenborn Ridge before
  
• OffensiveUS - Morning
  
• OffensiveGER - Night
  
• Skirmish - Daytime/Blizzard

The team is proud to bring to you our next map built from the ground up: Elsenborn Ridge.

Elsenborn Ridge was a less-documented but integral battle nevertheless in the Ardennes ‘44 campaign of WW2. Set in the Belgian region of Büllingen, just 40 miles away from Foy, the U.S. valiantly tried to hold their position in the small village of Wirtzfeld. With territory having exchanged hands multiple times between the U.S. and German Forces, the U.S. was eventually driven out of Wirtzfeld, and onto the Elsenborn Ridge, where they dug in throughout the brutal December period of 1944, having been forced to abandon crucial ammo and fuel stores near the village.

The map joins the battle between 16-26th December 1944 with the U.S. Forces having established their defensive networks on the Elsenborn Ridge, while the German Forces controlled the village outskirts of Wirtzfeld to the South. The map will be coming to the following game modes:

• Warfare
  
• Offensive U.S.
  
• Offensive German
  
• Control Skirmish

Beginning with U.S. territory in the North we have the 99th Command Centre. An operational centre for the 99th U.S. Division holding out on the Elsenborn Ridge. The Capture Point features a logistical tent, some defensive bunkers, as well as some WW1 trenches to help the U.S. forces dig in.




The Gun Battery Capture Point features a strong defensive trench network that the U.S. forces were able to utilise to set up their AA guns in addition to their fearsome Black Dragon artillery guns. Narratively, once the U.S. forces were settled into the Elsenborn Ridge, they rained heavy artillery fire onto the German Forces down at Wirtzfeld. The visibility due to the bad weather was so poor that a lot of the shots were inaccurate.




With the U.S. forces successfully retreating to the Elsenborn Ridge, the rural environment provided little warmth or comfort, so the U.S. established one of many camps for the troops which included temporary mess halls and medical tents.




The Elsenborn Ridge Capture Point serves as an observation post, and the first line of defence for the U.S. forces. It features a defensive trench network, and an abandoned farm house that the troops would use to take turns in keeping watch throughout the countryside.




Farahilde Farm is a farmstead Capture Point that features a traditional livestock farm, with a blend of close quarters fighting within the farmstead, as well as wide open fields for vehicular and long range combat.




The Road to Elsenborn Ridge features a farmhouse that has been converted into a vehicle repair station for the U.S. forces. As such the once open land is now full of broken vehicles and equipment, providing a lot of opportunities for close quarters combat.




The Dugout Tanks are a defensive position that the U.S. used as a vantage point in the Belgian countryside. Using tank turrets that were previously functional even though the rest of the chassis was broken, the U.S. were able to dig in at a particularly troublesome defensive position against the German Forces. The Capture Point features a strong defensive network, with a wide range of flanking opportunities in the wide open terrain on the flanks.

Note: The Dugout Tanks Capture Point will also be used for the Control Skirmish game mode as the active Capture Point.




The Jensit Pillboxes Capture Point features a steep hill that the U.S. utilised to control the main road in and out of Jensit. The pillboxes are temporary structures made from wood and are used to provide devastating ambush opportunities by concealing themselves within the dense forestry surrounding them. It also serves as a staging area for assault forces to move down the map into the German controlled Checkpoint.




The Checkpoint Capture Point is that of a German themed Checkpoint that was often featured in WW2 to control the roads in and out of regions. This particular Checkpoint was key to controlling the main road in and out of Wirtzfeld, so the German Forces put extra emphasis on protecting it by using the nearby barn and protected hillside for storage and supplies.




Moving onto German territory, Erelsdell Farmhouse features a civilian controlled Farmstead, as one of the more relatively untouched areas by either forces, the Capture Point features a more traditional Belgian farmstead with a combination of enterable barns/buildings as well as contrasting wide open fields.




The AA Battery is a Capture Point that has been set up by the German Forces as a means of retaliation against the U.S. Forces on the Elsenborn Ridge. With the exchange of artillery fire through really poor weather conditions being at the narrative forefront, the Capture Point contains an Artillery-themed trench network, surrounded by a mixture of forested areas and open plains that support a variety of tactics and playstyles.


Keen to push our technology forward, we used the improved VFX systems in the Hinterberg Capture Point. Hinterberg is a forested area that was originally held by the U.S. Forces. The German Forces bombarded it with artillery and burnt it down, a key skirmish that forced the U.S. back to the Elsenborn Ridge. The Capture Point features a burnt forest, minimal supplies and defences, and utilises the landscape for a more natural cover experience.




The Supply Cache was originally held by the U.S. Forces. As part of the hasty withdrawal to the Elsenborn Ridge, the U.S. were forced to abandon a lot of the supplies that had been stockpiled, this left the area in a mess and allowed the German Forces to swoop in and steal the remains. The Capture Point is a chaotic space, providing a couple of key buildings overlooking the cap while at ground level, large supply stockpiles provide a lot of cover for infantry focused combat.




During the research phase of Elsenborn Ridge, we learned that the U.S. used the terrain to their advantage quite a lot, and created Foxholes to set up traps for nearby German patrols. The Foxholes Capture Point depicts a no-man’s land area, with hilly terrain designed to provide armour with good vantage points, as well as prominent Foxholes for players to set up ambushes.


Elsenborn Ridge is a map that caters to a myriad of playstyles and strategies; attacking from South to North, Infantry squads fighting over the Fuel Depot Capture Point will get a chance to experience that close quarters combat feeling with danger lurking around every corner while vehicles will have to provide support at a safe distance.

Moving further north, the map opens up to Hinterberg, a burnt down forest section that provides tricky terrain that requires both infantry and armoured vehicles to rely on using the natural landscape to their advantage. It’s here where the Sniper role also comes into its own, offering long distance opportunities down the rolling hills of Belgium.

Next we have the Checkpoint, a roadblock which controls a key road in and out of the region. Here players get a varied mixture of gameplay, the open fields on the approach are a haven for armoured vehicle support, while the intricate web of hillside storage provides infantry with that close quarters gameplay. The changes in elevation of the rolling hills start to make their mark on the gameplay by providing Armour squads the ability to really open up their firepower capabilities

Moving further north way out into the countryside we have Farahilde Farm, infantry squads will have to make tactical decisions when crossing the open fields to reach safety, the armour squads will have high visibility across the vicinity here to cause a lot of damage.

And finally on the Northern part of the ridge we have Gun Battery, a heavily fortified dug-out section full of trenches that allow infantry squads to hunker down while the Armour squads emerge from the treeline ready to push through to victory.


The technical art team have been investigating the introduction of a dynamic weather system to Hell Let Loose, in particular a way to convey the weather that affected troops in Elsenborn Ridge. Historically they were subjected to freezing conditions and blizzards affecting visibility.

We needed a system that could change throughout and be as unpredictable as the weather at that time to reflect these conditions.

A set of VFX particles were created consisting of various intensities of snow. As we needed this configurable, we decided on a set of presets utilising data assets. These made it easy to drive the intensity of each level of snow.

This meant we could tune each scenario easily in isolation. Each scenario includes parameters referenced from the vfx and lighting to allow us to tune the weather intensity and atmospherics.

The VFX scenario was broken down into a set of presets;

• Light snow
  
• Medium snow
  
• Heavy snow
  
• Blizzard snow

The data assets were then accessed by a singular blueprint placed in the map which would blend each preset over time. all of which could be tuned in terms of frequency, probability and transition length. We added the probability of when the transition between each stage would occur in order for us to add a certain amount of randomness to it.

This introduced some challenges for how we would implement this for the online player experience of Hell Let Loose. Changeable weather conditions would need to be consistent over time for each player. The code team worked hard to support in ensuring the levels of snow to blizzard stayed synchronised and consistent throughout.





Freelook is something the community has been requesting in the game for sometime and as frequent players ourselves, it has been somewhat of a personal mission to get freelook in the game. Running through fields always has been a risky endeavour with threats always looming. Freelook allows for a 130 degrees horizontal view angle that allows players to scan their peripherals while running, holding a position or even mounted on your MG. This helps to give players more control over their situational awareness which allows for more calculated actions.

Due to some limitations with our character system, such as first person characters not having full bodies, there are some known issues which occur, this includes some visual clipping with certain weapons and uniforms. We hope to continue looking at solutions for these issues and polishing the system.




For the release of Elsenborn Ridge, we have once again changed the Frontend scene - this time to a full colour night time scene. We wanted to be able to depict the fire and snow which are prominent features in the new map, and perhaps give a sense of the extremities faced during this element of the Battle of the Bulge.

Ability to navigate menus whilst queuing for a lobby

We’re currently working on a requested feature where if you’re waiting to join a server you’re able to freely navigate the menus until you join the server! This will hopefully help reduce frustration in some long server joining times!

This will appear in the top right corner of the enlist screen once you attempt to join a server



These PTE sessions are a way for you as a community to feedback on Hell Let Loose work in progress, which means we can look to implement your feedback before a patch or update is released. Although we can currently only hold public testing sessions on Steam, we encourage everyone to take part to be able to share feedback.



For today’s session, there is a list of unfinished items/bugs that we’re aware of, including:

• [EBR] Certain walls & snowbanks have misaligned collision.
  
• The Wool Greatcoat Winter Uniform has broken cloth physics.
  
• The Wool Greatcoat Winter Uniform fabric is changing shape when the user comes close to the player wearing it.
  
• The German commander body disappears in the Barracks when zoomed in and wearing the 6th Panzer uniform.
  
• The US Engineer when wearing the 16.0 Corps head displays with large black gaps over the face in the barracks.
  
• Machine gunners don’t sit central in the presentation window in the barracks when zoomed in.
  
• The US medic has 2 instances of the Refreshed Winter Uniform.
  
• Exiting Practice Range using Leave Server option will return the player to the deprecated War Room/Basic Training.
  
• [EBR] Pre-Placed German Luchs light tank fails to spawn at German HQ #01 on all US Offensive variants.
  
• [Freelook] Certain pieces of equipment can be used while aiming them with Freelook.
  
• [Freelook] Anti-tank weapons can be aimed with Freelook.
  
• [Freelook] Freelook remains active when entering ADS with weapons which apply a screen overlay.
  
• [Freelook] The user can “aim down sights” while actually looking away from their rifle with freelook.

Please note that Elsenborn is in its final polishing phase, it means you may see:

• Minor collision issues.
  
• Texture issues.
  
• Minor asset misalignment issues.
  
• Performance issues.
  
• Visual effects throughout Elsenborn Ridge are still work in progress.

You are welcome to both stream and record PTE footage, but as these sessions are showing unfinished work, it’s always good to let your individual communities know that the footage is from a PTE session, where you might encounter unfinished items, bugs and other issues.


Once you have completed a game and are ready to provide feedback, please use the forms below!


Check your Steam Library for the Hell Let Loose (Public Testing) application, or re-download it from the Steam store, you’ll want to boot this version up to take part in the PTE!

Once you’re in and have selected a server, you’ll be able to test out the new game mode!

Submit Feedback: https://forms.office.com/e/5tyS1gJ9QR

Share Bug Reports: https://forms.office.com/e/riXw0eZrgb


Because PTEs are run on development servers that have logging activated, you will experience a slight decrease in performance. You will also not earn any XP and your progress will not be carried over to the live game.